It's an amazing World
Exploring the world we live in through the lenses of the Bible, Psychology and general curiosity
Glory to Him always
Today:
Ended close relationship with a guy I’ve known for over 10 years and had gotten really close to.
Woke up thinking my best friend hated me for telling her mom a secret because I was scared for the safety of the friend.
Stressed out because of school
Response:
God’s got a better plan and will help me through this.
You did the right thing. You may be suffering for it, but you did what was right for her.
God’s gonna bring you through this and your gonna be better than gold.
God has a reason for everything y’all! He can free you from whatever pain or stress you are enduring today! He loves you. Because of my wonderful God I can have peace no matter what the situation I am going through is! God is so good!
God is good when it hurts.
Hi guys!
I hope that you are all doing so very well, and if not know that the God of the Universe holds You in His hands.
Before you read this please listen to this song: Here I am
So, to be totally and completely honest, I have really not been doing that great these past few days. Gone through some really rough stuff with a friend of mine. Had to let go of a different relationship that I wasn’t ready for and give it all to God. But you know what? God is good. I firmly believe that. Actually, I want to take a moment to praise Him right now.
God, Father,
Thank You for this day that You have blessed us with. Thank You for the wonderful people in our lives. Thank You for everything that You do in each and every one of our lives. Thank You for always holding on to each of us, and being right next to us when we call upon Your name. God I praise You for You loving kindness. I praise You for Your wonderful faithfulness, and every little detail that You use to let us know You know what we need, and to let us know You love us with a mighty, passionate, Holy love. You are amazing. Jesus, thank You for dying for me.
Amen
Okay, so just know I’m only telling you I’ve been having a rough time so that I can praise God through it, not for sympathy or attention.
Here’s the deal. It stinks to be pouring yourself out for God and for others all of the time and still feel like you are not enough. Still feel like no matter how hard you try, you could’ve done better. It stinks, and to hold onto to those thoughts is exactly the opposite of what God wants for you. God wants you to try your best, then rest in Him. Not spend all your time wondering why you aren’t doing more or better than you are. It stinks when you are pursuing what God wants and end up feeling like you’ve lost your best friend. So here’s the deal. Life stinks sometimes. Things hurt sometimes. Things don’t always go well. Let it go, and let God take it. Let God take it all away and fill you with His strength and His power to get you through the day. It really isn’t by your own power you are doing the things you do to serve Him anyway, is it? Surrender it all to Him again and try to remember that it is Him working through you, Him holding you when you cannot walk on your own two feet anymore. Let it go and smile again. Because Jesus is good. Because our God is a great, great God. Let the peace of God smooth out the hurting and smooth out the regret in your heart.
God,
I want to do it all for You. I want every single thing in my life to be for You. I love You so much and want to pursue You to wherever You may lead me. I want to write these devotionals with the right attitude in my heart, and give You all of the praise and all of the glory. Please humble my heart God, so that I never think I write from my own skill, but remind me that I write because I passionately love You. You are so Holy, and so worthy of the praise of every human on the planet. I love You forever God. Forever. Thank You for the music, the songs, that You use to help me through my rough times! You are amazing!
Amen
I love you guys. Hope you all have a wonderful day. If you need prayers let me know!
-Jesus’s girl 🙂
P.S. Listen to these too! Control <My favorite song ever! Warrior, Work of Art (This is for the girls!), Broken Prayers (Love this one!),
A soul on fire
Holy God,
When asked what the most important commandment was, Jesus replied, “Love the LORD your God with all of your heart, all of your soul and all of your strength.” God that is what I truly want to do. I want to be a soul completely passionately on fire, living for You, Loving You. I give myself completely to You God, because I love You and want my entire life to say that. I know that I am not always perfect, but in my imperfection, Your amazing grace is magnified. I love YouGod.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
The importance of Scripture.
Since I am on a roll in actually posting stuff today, please allow me to briefly touch a very important topic that I feel cannot be covered often enough, and that is the importance of Scripture. The importance of knowing God’s work, meaning also knowing His will, and truly knowing your Bible cover to cover. It is so hard getting into a good Bible reading habit, especially with your actual physical Bible and not just Youversion (but if you are just starting to try reading your Bible a lot, definitly look into that amazing app and starting some plans, that’s just the first step though!). It is just so important. Reading God’s Word not only helps you to know all of the wonderful things that God has done so that you can better praise Him, but it helps you to know more about Jesus, who we are trying to become more like. How do you become more like someone? You spend time with them. So spending time in the word of God is spending time with God and Jesus. The benifits of reading your Bible are just so amazing! I could truly go on and on about how valuable Scripture is! If you have a hard time focusing while reading your Bible, try praying through them, especially the psalms. Paraphrase them so that they apply to you, because then, not only are you reading and learning Scripture, you’re praying too! God’s word is just so amazing and truly, truly a blessing. God, thank You for your word, because you are awesome. Love You LORD!
Singin’ to my Savior
Hey guys,
Sing to God today! Just a reminder to sing to the LORD of LORDs! There are so many great Christian artists and bands out there that you can enjoy no matter what type of music you are normally into. Seriously, my youtube feed is full of Christian acoustic, hard rock and pop! God is spreading into the worlds music too! Isn’t it fantastic! God is so amazing! Sing to Him! He loves you!
-Aubrey
God is amazing!
Praise Him always! Not just for waht He has done in your life, but for who He is! King of Kings! Lord of Lords! Praise Jesus, the one and only Savior! Sing to Him! He doesn’t care if you can’t hit the right notes, just sing a song to the King today! God is so good! He is so amazing and He is so totally and completely worthy of you praise! Isn’t He though? Just for being the loving wonderful and magnificent God that He is, isn’t He worthy of our praise? He is SO GOOD, all of the time! Good doesn’t even cover it because that word is overused, He’s fantastic, wonderful, amazing and so loving, faithful and kind! He loves us all no matter what we have done or where we have been in our pasts, as long as we turn to Him and call Him LORD and Savior we are saved! That’s so awesome! He is so good! Have a smile on your face today because this God Almighty so Holy and Righteous loves you to the ends of the earth with a crazy, relentless amazing love!! Rejoice guys! God is good!
Life update: February 2018
Hey guys!
Thought I’d give y’all a quick life update. Mainly been doing school, but been going through some emotional stuff too. To any readers who deal with self-hatred, please, please remember that you are forgiven. You are loved. You are a child of God. Seriously, you are not Jesus, so quit hating yourself for not being perfect. God really does forgive you when you mess up, so when you don’t forgive yourself that’s almost like saying Jesus dying for your sins on the cross is good enough for God but not you. So please. Don’t hate yourself. Look in the mirror and say, “God made me. I am beautiful. I am loved. I am a mess, yes, but a beautiful mess because God is in me. Working on me. Turning me into His masterpiece.” Now time for me to take my own advice. I know that it is hard when what people expect of you because you are a Christian is not a reality, and you are trying as hard as you can to make it a reality. Like having the right opinions of yourself, as a Child of God. It really stinks to know all the answers and be able to fully believe them about anyone else but yourself. For over two years now, since a little before I gave my life to God, I have been dealing with some really intense self-hatred. Now it hasn’t been too much of a problem most of the time, I mean, it wasn’t right, but it wasn’t wrong to the point of me thinking I needed to actually reach out and get help. Recently it’s gotten worse. But that’s not the point! The point is that I know, with everything that I am that God is going to pull me out of here. That He is going to take this and turn it into a wonderful part of my story. My story, written by God. When you read a good book you don’t tribute it’s goodness to the charectars, but the the author, who wrote the story in the first place. I pray with all that I am that when people look at my life, they give the credit to the Author of my life, my Almighty Father and King. You know God is amazing, and I love Him with all I am. He is going to teach me how to have a healthy love for myself so that I can truly embrace and help others. God is good. All of the time. I firmly believe that, and hope that you do too. But yeah, that’s kind of where I am, emotionally. Trying to get out of this rut and then hating myself for being in it in the first place. Then I hate myself for hating myself. Ironic, is it not? Anyways. God’s got this. He’s amazing, I love Him, and He’s got this. Hope that you have a great day! Truly, hope that I can bring joy and inspiration to your life because of God the Father in me! That’s my only purpose in life, after all, is to help people see God in me and want to come to Him and live for Him! He is eternally amazing!
-Aubrey Carr
All for Him! (Live like He is risen!)
Hey guys!
I hope that you are all doing well and having a wonderful day! Remember, if you have any prayer request just let me know and I’d be happy to pray for you, your family or your friends! God loves you and so do I guys!
~~~~~~~~
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, Holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each-other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one-another. Forgive as the LORD forgave you. And over all of these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the LORD Jesus, giving thanks to the Father through Him.
Colossions 3:12-14,17
God, whatever I do in this life I want to do it for You. Honoring You. Glorifying You. You are worthy LORD, of my life worshiping You. Please let me not be a stumbling block to others, and guide the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart. You are amazing, God, You are good.
Amen
How is it possible to glorify God with everything that you do? How can you wash a pan or fold your laundry “in the name of the LORD Jesus”? How can you do everything to the glory of God? This verse is so fascinating to me. Well, here’s one thing, you have the ability to do everything, the menial tasks, with a good attitude. That points to God, right? I mean, doesn’t the world expect you to grumble and complain about the boring and not fun tasks that everybody has to do? So, per the usual, I think it’s our responsibility as followers of Christ to not do what the world expects, you think? Instead let’s follow God’s way, having a good attitude, no matter how unpleasant the task, and work as if we are working for God, not men (I know that’s a scripture somewhere but I cannot seem to find it to give you the reference- sorry!) ‘Kay? I mean, if God asked you to go wash that pan are you going to grumble and complain to God and tell Him that it’s not your job to wash that pan? (Trust me, I’m preaching this to myself as much as to anyone else!) No! You’re gonna go wash that pan and be happy about it because the God of the entire Universe just told you to!
I truly think that our lives would point to God a lot more and glorify Him more if we take joy in everyday! As Christians I think it’s pretty darn important to live each day with fantastic joy and purpose. To live like each day is so totally worth living because Jesus died and was risen for us. Right? God is SO good guys! Live like you know this and believe it! How does it look if we go through each day complaining and griping, saying “I’m tired” or “I just have so much to do, today won’t be any fun, but yeah, God is good, I believe that.” Yawn! That’s not really very convincing is it? I mean, I know some people like this, they say all the right things “God is good, Jesus is risen, God is worthy of praise” But they don’t really live it! I’m just saying, now’s as good a time as any to take an life check to see if you are one of those people. God loves you whoever you are and where ever you are in your faith, but the great thing about true faith is that it’s always growing and improving because God’s moving you along, right? God is good guys! Live like you know it!
Holy God,
I know that You are at work in me, turning me into the person that You created me to be, and I’m thanking You for that- praising you for that! You are so amazing! So powerful! So forgiving and so loving! God I praise you with everything I am, and want to praise you in everything that I do, because God my God, You are so, so worth it. I love You LORD!
-Amen
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry if I stepped on peoples toes today guys! I felt the need to truly tell this to people, it’s certainly something I need to work on, and will as long as I live! We’re all living and learning, right? Sorry, I know I said that like 50 times today! Sorry if you didn’t like me talking to you like that, but hey, also not really that sorry because as believers we are supposed to point out when other believers aren’t really living by the word! Hope that you all have a wonderful day!
-God’s Girl 15 (< my new pen name!)
Let’s get joyful!
Hello reader!
I hope that today you are filled with joy. If you are not, I hope that you become full of joy! You see, as followers of Christ we have so, so, so much to be joyful for, don’t you think?
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure your faith life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
-James 1:2-4 MSG
A joyful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day.
-Proverbs 15:13 MSG
Okay, I have so much that I want to say, so let me see if I can sort it out so that it makes sense to normal human beings. We all go through stinky days. It’s just life. I mean, how would it even be a challenge if life was easy and happy all the time and then we were joyful? Everyone can do that! An atheist could do that. It’s being joyful when things aren’t so great, when your family’s finances are a struggle, when you’ve just lost a loved one, when things go wrong, that is when it counts. That’s when people are gonna look up and say, “Hey, isn’t she the girl that just lost her job and is getting her house foreclosed? How is she over there singing a worship song at the top of her lungs and laughing with her friends? How does that work?” (Completely made up example, by the way!) You know it seems a bit crazy, a bit illogical to choose joy when everything is plummeting, but think about it: When you choose joy you allow your heart to be filled with God’s promises, you smile and are a blessing to the people around you. When you choose sadness, and to let yourself sink into self-pity and complaining you end up becoming a burden to the people around you. And though this is kind of off topic I would like to thank the friends receiving this who have put up with me when I’m trying to be a blessing to everybody else and then just dump all of my sadness and complaints on you because you know me best… yes, you know who you are. I apologize for being a burden, and I want you to know that I really appreciate all the times you have listened to me anyways! OKAY, getting back on topic, you know where joy comes from, right? I truly hope that you do. Joy, everlasting joy, joy that never, ever, ever ends comes from knowing God loves us. Knowing that He gave so much so that we can live. That is reason to ALWAYS to have joy! Maybe you won’t always be happy. Happiness and joy aren’t the same thing. There is always good in a situation too. I remember something from three years ago this month, I feel like it kind of relates. In February of 2015 my amazing and wonderful Grandaddy left this world to join our heavenly Father. It was sad. 12 year old me didn’t understand that cancer and almost a month in ICU meant there wasn’t much hope of him getting better, and that day when my dad told me of course I was sad. I was heartbroken. But then we got to talking, and we were remembering all of the joys that his life brought. All of the memories and the people that he helped. And we were laughing. It felt wrong, to 12 year old me to be joyful after losing someone. Now looking back we were able to be joyful because:
1. My Grandaddy knew Jesus, and had gone home.
2. He was no longer suffering like he had been.
3. He had lived his life well. He had lived a life worth rejoicing over.
My point, which I am really bad at getting into words today, is that, because of God, you can have joy in pretty much any situation. There is always something good that is either in or can come out of ANY situation, and that is reason to choose joy.
Now, since I seem bent on rambling today I will go ahead and go all out: What does choosing joy even mean? (For those of you who know me well I’m over here doing that “thing” with my hands again) Choosing joy is being incredibly thankful for all of the little things! For taking in all of the amazing blessings that God has given you and not focusing on the things that are wrong or the things that you don’t have. Yeah, there will always be things that you don’t have, but what good does focusing on those do? Zilcho. It does you NO good. However choosing to be thankful for the little things, and to be an unrelenting optimist in the Christian sense, that’s going to, for one thing, help others to see God in you (big goal of being a Christian, remember?) My pastor Ruby is a great example. Even when she’s tired, even when she’s had a rough week, she is this amazing wonderful, generally happy person to be around. I admire that, and I know a lot of other people do to. Sometimes she gets sad when she is preaching, but she never loses that sense of joy.
Holy and Might LORD,
You are the God of all good things, you have given us so, so many reasons to choose joy, to choose Your joy. God, you have given us so many reasons to be thankful! You have given us so many bright sides, so many things that are reasons to be happy everyday. You want us to enjoy life, to live in wonder of it everyday. Help us to always remember that. Help us to always choose joy!
Amen
So whenever you feel down, or like there is nothing to be happy about just remember what Christ did for you. Remember the life that you have been blessed with, and thank God for it!
-Aubrienna Bernice Carr
New year!!
Hey guys!
I’m sure a lot of you are reading this while trying to stay up until midnight to see the new year! I know I’m writing this partially to the time until 12 am. This isn’t the only reason I’m writing though. You see, I thought I’d share a little bit of what’s been going on. What my family has accomplished in the past year, and what I personally hope to accomplish in 2018. As some of you know, my family has been through a LOT, and I do mean a LOT in the past year. The beginning of last year my father was struggling through a horrible time at his previous job. His boss was completely unfair and the workplace corrupt. At the end of January, he lost his job. Luckily he had been in contact with a group here in our current town and was able to get a loan to start his own business. The problem? Our old house was over an hour away. We had no practical choice but to sell the house we built ourselves and had happily lived in for 9 years, and move. Of course with my dad not having a job at the time, the finances were limited, and we were afraid moving would be downgrading a lot. God blessed us though by giving us the perfect house that we never thought we could afford. He granted us an impossible blessing. After purchasing the new house we had less than a week to get out of the old one and into the new one. Again, God provided, sending us friends and family to help. We made it. On top of everything else, unpacking, new furniture, decorating, losing old friends, joining a new church and all of that, we are homeschooled, and my mom had to prepare the curriculum and the classroom by August. She was amazing, and we were able to start school and keep on track! After this and several financial and academic challenges, we realize my dad’s business is not capable of fully supporting us yet, and he needs a job. After weeks of searching and applying everywhere, God yet again provides and answers our prayers. My dad gets a job! And a good one too, one he enjoys. I am so, so thankful for all that God has gotten us through this year. So thankful. Now, to go into what I hope to achieve personally in 2018. I really just want to figure out what God has planned, and follow it with everything I am. I am His. I want Him to work through me in 2018. I pray that you feel the same. God is good. He is so, so good. Happy New Year Y’all!!!
-Aubrey Carr
What people are saying